Food waste recycling

Food waste in the Lancaster district can no longer be collected and taken away for recycling following a decision made by Lancashire County Council to change the way that garden waste is composted.

This means that residents who have been recycling food waste in their green bins along with their garden waste, or putting it out for collection in the specially provided caddy, should either put their food waste in their grey bins or compost it at home.

As a result of the changes, the following containers will no longer be needed and can either be re-used as storage for other household items, disposed of in your grey bin or orange sack or taken to local household waste recycling sites where they will be collected and recycled.

• Silver kitchen caddies• Small green kerbside caddies

These containers will not be collected by the council and can be used by householders for other storage purposes.

Large green wheelie bins should be retained for the storage of garden waste only.

The change has been made because mixing food waste in with garden waste means it has to be sent to special indoor composting facilities, where the composting takes place at a controlled temperature. This is necessary to kill any bacteria in the food waste and control the potential spread of disease like foot and mouth.

With food waste accounting for only around 1% of the mixed food and green waste collected from households, there are more cost-effective options available to deal with green waste if the food waste is removed.

The indoor facilities are therefore closing and Lancashire County Council will save money by taking your garden waste to an outdoor composting facility.